Verizon To Charge Content Providers $.03 Per SMS 260
An anonymous reader writes "It appears that Verizon is going to start double-dipping by charging both consumers AND content providers for SMS text messages. Verizon has informed content partners that it will levy a $.03 charge for messages sent to customers, effective November 1. From RCRWireless: 'Countless companies could be affected by the new fee, from players in the booming SMS-search space (4INFO, Google Inc. and ChaCha) to media companies (CNN, ESPN and local outlets) to mobile-couponing startups (Cellfire) to banks and other institutions that use mobile as an extension of customer services.'"
They have it all wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They have it all wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
You seem to be under the misapprehension that Verizon has some sort of policy regarding "fairness".
They also charge you for incoming calls. Even if they're wrong numbers.
Also I hear that 0.02 = 0.0002.
FINALLY! (Score:3, Insightful)
With email on your phone so common (Score:3, Insightful)
With email on your phone so common, why would you even want SMS and all it's limitations and cost?
Another example of US telcos acting dumb on SMS (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:They have it all wrong (Score:1, Insightful)
I know with Sprint you can call the customer service number after the call and get the charges canceled, but most people don't bother because they have an obscene number-of-minutes plan.
No, most people don't bother with Sprint because Sprint has made it clear that actually calling customer service will get you "fired" from their service [slashdot.org].
There's a reason Sprint is dead-last in the telecoms industry - I'd rather put up with Verizon (and actually get service!) than even think about trying to deal with Sprint.
Re:Email to Text? (Score:5, Insightful)
You pay a service contract fee for a data line.
You pay an extra fee for using that data line to send SMS messages
You pay and extra fee to use that data line to send http, pop, smtp, https traffic
You pay an extra fee on top of that if you want to use that data line to connect a computer
All at fees that are going up exponentially while cost per bit goes down for the company, I would love to see those margins. This is what is going to happen to your internet service soon people.
Re:Timing is suspect (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it's safe to say that Verizon and its little friends are big fans of the current surveillance-friendly administration, seeing as how the W administration just gave the telcos the world's largest "Get Out Of Jail Free" card with their little "retroactive immunity" bill.
*sigh* Obama voted for it. (I'm voting for him anyway.)
Of course, I'm suspicious of the way gas prices suddenly drop in October of years divisible by 4, too. :)
They drop every October. Every September, too. People drive more in the summer.
Re:Email to Text? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:They have it all wrong (Score:3, Insightful)
For unsolicited messages, I agree. But what if you're trying to take advantage of a "free" SMS service (like Google)? You're soliciting that SMS response. Why should the content provider pay to respond? They may not be making any money off of that. Making them pay means many of them will simply go away, which I think would be a shame.
But for all of those "sign up to receive SMS spam from us" services, I agree that there ought to be a way to shift some of those costs onto them.
Re:Another example of US telcos acting dumb on SMS (Score:2, Insightful)
nothing, they just charge as much as people will let them get away with. like every other company.
the only reason to agree (Score:2, Insightful)
The only reason I would agree with this model, and with the same model to be implemented into email messages, is to be able to avoid having spam as we know it. Imagine the guy that wants to use someone else's account, it would take very little time if someone charged up a whole bunch of emails even at .0001 cent it would still trigger a flag somewhere that I am being charged for emails I am not making, or that the spammers would have to make a whole lot more money then this to stay afloat.
Re:Email to Text? (Score:4, Insightful)
He's not talking about emailing from your phone. He's talking about sending an email to your phone that gets delivered as a text message. Big difference. There's no data plan involved.
Verizon will send a text message to my phone if someone sends an email to <my number>@vtext.com and happily charge me for it, even if it's spam. There's no way for them to charge the sender.
Re:They have it all wrong (Score:4, Insightful)
Bloodsuckers, all of them.
Article is wrong (Score:4, Insightful)
This does not affect mobile-to-mobile SMS, consumers will not see any charges (unless the content provider chooses to recover costs from consumers). My understanding is that this fee will be 3 cents for every premium or standard-rated SMS sent from a shortcode to a Verizon subscriber, unless the message is from a non-profit/charity or is "Free to End-User" (whatever that means, I don't know the difference between an F2EU SMS and a standard-rated SMS).
My biggest concern is that we're not going to be able to stop this, and once Verizon adopts this policy every other carrier will as well. This has the potential to seriously affect the mobile content industry.
Re:Email to Text? (Score:3, Insightful)
Seconded. And there's no surcharge for using the GPS capabilities of your device, or for tethering it to your computer as a modem. Verizon nickel and dimes you with all of their "additional" services. The only thing they have as a benefit is better coverage, and that's rapidly waning. I'll deal with not having coverage as far into the mountains as Verizon does if it means I save $50/mo on the same services.
Re:They have it all wrong (Score:3, Insightful)
There is, but it will require a drastic change in the way the FCC does business.
I'd also like them to require telecoms to post the actual cost I'm going to be charged for a cellular contract instead of the bogus "39.95 per month" that they're currently allowed to advertise.
Block service to Verizon (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Less spam? (Score:2, Insightful)